Are Solar Flood Lights Right For Your Home
Solar flood lights are a great addition to any home. Whether you’re looking to light a path in your yard or provide a bit more security without raising your electric bill, solar flood lights can light up your life.
If you’re looking to further lower your electric bill, you should consider installing solar panels on your home.
See how much a solar panel system would cost for your home
Best Vintage Look: Brightech Ambience Pro Solar 27 Ft Edison Bulb Outdoor String Lights
Courtesy of Amazon
Vintage Edison bulbs create a classic and tasteful look for any setting. These lights from Brightech last five to six hours on a full charge and shine a bit brighter than traditional solar lights. Twelve bulbs are spaced 20 inches apart, and the bulbs should last 20,000 hours before replacement.
The shatterproof bulbs also can withstand winds up to 50 miles per hour, plus rain, and extreme heat. An additional 6-foot wire connecting to the solar panel allows you to place it in a sunny place for best charging. Brightech offers a three-year product warranty and will send replacement parts or a new product if problems arise.
How We Tested Solar Garden Lights
We know that these products have an issue with longevity. They just don’t last long enough, and too many end up in landfill, too quickly.
So we designed a really tough set of tests to simulate the type of conditions these types of lights might endure over a few really tough British winter. Then we did leave them outside for one winter.
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Argos Home 200 Warm White Led Solar String Lights
Only available at Argos
- Failed durability tests
Our verdict: Not robust enough
Key features: 100 lights, 10 metres long , claimed battery life not stated, 2 light settings, white light.
These lights are cheap, and they look it. There’s no plastic coating in sight, just a long reel of copper wire that can be bent and twisted around any objects you’re hoping to illuminate.
The lights survived six weeks outside, including almost a week of sub zero temperatures, they also endured a night in the freezer at -16 degrees without breaking.
But a few sharp tugs along the length of the wire dispatched these lights to the bin.
Best Solar Lights At A Glance:
- Best Buy:T-Sun Solar Spotlight
We put a range of solar lights to the test, using them in urban, suburban and rural gardens across the country. We started testing at the end of February 2022, and collected our results in late May, so weve put these lights through months of different lighting and weather conditions. Theyve seen wind, rain, hail and sleet cold snaps, heat waves, and even dust from the Sahara.
As we evaluated each one, we assigned them scores, and the models that topped the test were awarded BBC Gardeners World Magazine Best Buys. Each review has a detailed list of pros and cons for clarity and has been rated according to set up, features, performance, and value for money. Only the stand-out solar lights have made our list, so you can buy with confidence.
With the right lights, you can have effective, automatic garden lighting that wont break the bank.
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Runner Up: Solpex Solar Outdoor Garden Lights
The last on our list are these super-cute Solpex Solar Outdoor Garden Lights, providing a romantic and practical solar lighting option for your outdoor area.
Designed to look like little houses, these solar lights offer a more aesthetic stake-style solar lighting option. They give out soft light through windows, making them fantastic as a decorative lighting option to create a romantic atmosphere.
As well as being a great design option, these solar lights are also very practical, as they also offer easy installation for a variety of outdoor spaces: simply push the weather-resistant stem into soft ground. At full charge they provide 8-10 hours of light, so will brighten your garden all night long.
If a kitsch style is what youre after, these could be the solar lights for you.
Most Colorful: Lemontec Solar String Lights
Courtesy of Amazon
These multicolored lights create a fairytale aesthetic and add a bit of whimsy to any outdoor space. The water droplet shape also adds an element of fun and creates an Alice-in-Wonderland-meets-mad-scientists-lab vibe.
A built-in sensor switches the lights on at night and off during the day while charging, and the lights can shift from colorful to warm white with the touch of a button. Dont worry about wet weather, you can leave these lights outside and theyll be fine after a rainstorm. These are perfect for night-time swims, groovy garden parties, childrens birthday parties, and even seasonal holiday decorating.
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Why Do Solar Motion Lights Use Leds Instead Of An Incandescent Bulb
LEDs need less power than incandescent bulbs, making them ideal for solar lighting applications.
The smaller a solar panel is, the less power it generates, and since you don’t want to use a giant panel for a small light, LEDs and solar panels are a perfect fit.
LED bulbs are also brighter and last longer than incandescent bulbs, two other features that are just right for security lights.
Security Solar Led Lights
These are the most common and popular solar lights. Most of them are installed outside the houses like in the driveways, around the house, entry gate, in front of the houses, and other areas. These lights may look like normal lights, but they double up to be security lights as well. They have in-built sensors with a detection range of certain angle.
When someone walks in the coverage area, then the lights will detect it and automatically turn on the lights. If inactivity is detected, then they will turn off automatically in a few minutes or seconds. They are quite handy and economic as well.
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Whousewe Solar Fence Lights: The Best Solar
Price: £40 |
Add a splash of light to your fencing with Whousewes Solar Fence Lights. With a simple one-screw installation, these lights are perfect for fences, walls, driveways and decks, and can provide up to 12 hours of warm white light from a single charge.
Theres no wiring to mess around with and the lights turn on automatically when it gets dark. You also have the option to choose between standard full-brightness illumination or a dynamic slow pulsing effect.
Each set comes with six lights and each lamp is fully independent, allowing you to install them wherever you like, with the option to add more lamps later. Each lamp is also IP65 rated against dust and water so you can safely leave them out all year round.
Key specs Dimensions: 11 x 10 x 6cm Brightness: 150lm Illumination time: Up to 12 hours
Price: £11 |
Ideal for adding instant festive flair, these Usboo string lights are great for wrapping around trees and draping over fences and balconies. There are 30 bulbs across 7.3m of cable with a spiked solar panel at the far end. Simply leave the solar panel out in the sun during the day to get up to 14 hours of illumination at night.
Its worth noting that while Usboo lists these lights as waterproof, we wouldnt recommend leaving them out in the rain for extended periods.
Key specs Cable length: 7.3m Number of bulbs: 30 Illumination time: Up to 14 hours
Price: £26 |
Price: £73 |
A twin pack of torch lights is also available.
Price: £15 |
Best Festive: Qedertek Fairy Blossom Solar Flower Garden Lights
Courtesy of Amazon
Time travel back to your childhood with these multicolor lights that are reminiscent of vintage multicolor holiday lights and all things Lisa Frank. The lights need to charge during the day for six to eight hours, but will illuminate for more than eight hours at night. Fifty flower lights dance across a 21-foot strand, providing light thats also waterproof and can withstand heavy rain and snow.
Two switches on the set allow lights to either flash or shine steady. Users love these lights for indoor and outdoor usestheyre perfect for little girls bedrooms, dreamy gardens, and anywhere you want to add a touch of color.
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Aogist Solar Ground Lights Review: Durability
The Aogist Solar Ground Lights stood up to hot, humid, wet, windy and freezing weather. No cracks appeared due to weather, nor were there any issues of water getting inside them. However, the plastic stakes are very flimsy, so, luckily, the company sent a couple of extras. The discs also don’t stay very well on the stakes. My toddler could pull them off quickly and broke a couple of the pegs off the stakes in the process.
A few online reviewers mentioned they sit low enough to the ground to be able to mow over them safely, but I did not find that to be the case. When I mowed over one of the lights, its glass cover cracked, although the light still worked afterwards.
The lights come with a one-year warranty from the date of purchase.
Best Motion Security Lights: Aootek 182 Led Solar Outdoor Motion Sensor Lights
For a fantastic security option, a motion sensor light could be a great option for you. These outdoor motion-activated lights provide the perfect security solar spotlight option for your front door, back passage, or rear garden.
These outdoor motion sensor lights have three optional modes: security mode, which utilizes the motion sensor, permanently on during darkness, and smart brightness control .
They can detect movement from up to 26 feet and at an angle of 120°, and with a large solar panel for optimal charging as well as a 120 LED powered bulb, this outdoor solar light will be sure to brighten your alley.
These are the best solar lights for those looking for practical security lights for their outdoor spaces.
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Types Of Outdoor Solar Lights
Outdoor solar lights are used for security purposes, illuminating pathways, decorating driveways, and lighting decks. The first step to choosing appropriate outdoor solar-powered lights is to determine the purpose. If you want something decorative, then appearances matter most. But if you want to light up a pathway, then you require bright focused LED lights to do the job.
Here are some of the most commonly used outdoor solar lights available out there.
Solar string lights or fairy lights
Ideal for decorating your outdoor space. Drape them along your deck or wrap them around trees to give your outdoor space a gorgeous appearance.
Solar deck, fence, or patio lights
Ideal for patios, staircases, and walls to subtly light walkways.
Solar post lights
Ideal for when you need a portable light such as camping or during power outages.
Security solar LED lights
These lights have built-in motion sensors, so the lights automatically turn on as soon as some movement is detected. Security solar LED lights are a popular option for security lighting around homes and offices.
How Do You Hang Solar String Lights
You can hang outdoor string lights from trees, railing, posts, ceiling beams, and more. Youll need to measure the distance of the space youre planning to hang lights from to determine how many feet of lights youll need. If you want to drape your lights or have them wrapped around beams or hung loosely from posts, youll need to add to your footage.
You can use small hooks if youre hanging lights from beams and posts. If youre draping lights from a railing, simply drape the lights to your liking, and secure them with twine, wire, or even zip-ties.
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Wilko 10 Bulbs Copper Solar String Lights
Only available at Wilko
- Visible signs of wear after tests
- Short and dim string of lights
Our verdict: Survived, but not without damage
Key features: 10 lights, 3.3 metres long, claimed battery life unstated, 2 light settings, orangey light.
There were a few signs of significant wear and tear, including the little cages that surround the lights constantly pinging off, and a few signs of corrosion, after testing.
It’s also a very short string of lights, and they don’t give off much light, as you can see from the image above. Even though they’re cheap, because they’re so small they don’t have many practical uses in an outside garden space.
How Do Solar String Lights Work
If you’re a bit of a technology nerd like me, then looking at how solar-powered string lights work is actually surprisingly simple.
The Solar Panels
It all starts with the solar panels that convert light energy from the sun into electricity. This happens in photovoltaic cells, and they can achieve efficiencies up to 19%.
They do require some careful placing in your outdoor space as you want to maximize how much sun exposure they get. Also, keep in mind that bad weather will limit how much electricity the panel will produce.
The Battery
All solar-powered lights will also have a rechargeable battery to store the electricity produced during the day. Different lights come with different size batteries, and the larger the batter, the more charging they will need during the day.
The advantage of a larger battery pack is that the lights can work for a longer time and, in some cases, long enough to light up for more than one night.
The Lights
And finally, all the products we recommend above have LED lights as these are the most energy-efficient and longest-lasting bulbs. They come in different shapes and sizes, and some will also give you a choice of color.
In most cases, the standard is a warm white light that is less severe on the eyes.
What’s also clever about these solar-powered lights is that the solar panel also functions as an on/off switch. Once it detects that there is no sunlight, it turns on the lights automatically.
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How Does A Solar Light Work
The working mechanism of solar lights is actually very simple. A core component of solar light is a photovoltaic panel also known as PV panel. This component will absorb the energy from sunlight during day time. After collecting the energy, it will be transformed into electrical energy and stored in a battery. Usually, batteries provided with solar lights are rechargeable ones.
When sunsets, the solar power lights will automatically detect it and switch on the lights. As sunlight is their main energy source, you have to install these lights where there is more sun exposure. Apart from PV panels, solar lights also have a controller. This component is specially designed to sense the sunlight and automatically turn on/off the LED lights using the energy stored from sunlight.
If you want to know how the PV panels work, then heres how they contain several layers of crystalline silicon and some chemicals. These layers have negatively charged electrons and positively charged spaces. Once the sunlight passes through the PV panel, the light energy will excite the negatively charged electrons and pressures them into positive spaces.
Solar Panel Type And Efficiency
Based on the materials used and design, solar panels are categorized into three types monocrystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous solar panels.
- Monocrystalline Solar Panels When it comes to cell efficiency and the amount of sun energy they are capable of converting into electricity, monocrystalline panels are the best ones. Their efficiency ranges from 15 to 21%. Though they are effective, these panels are a bit expensive.
- Polycrystalline Solar Panels These panels have an energy conversion efficiency of 16%. Though these solar panels have less efficiency, they are available at an affordable price range. And moreover, their build quality is good as well.
- Amorphous solar Panels They are also known as thin-film solar panels. They are cheaper and have less energy efficiency of about 10%. In some cases, it can be lower as well.
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Jackyled Solar Step Lights Review: Setup
The JACKYLED Solar Step Lights were simple, although a little time-consuming to set up. They come with mounting screws and youll need a drill to install them. Once installed, they held in place despite heavy rain and high winds. You will need to remove them from the step to access the battery component or the on/off auto sensor, but this is easily done.
Several online reviewers recommended installing these solar lights with outdoor double sticky tape if you cant use a drill. However, while the online reviewers seemed to have some success with this method, I found that these solar lights didnt hold on for more than 24 hours, and that was on a dry day. So, realistically you need to be prepared to drill to mount these.
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Solar String Lights
OK, so we’ve covered how they work now it’s time to look at advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
The greatest advantage I have found is that you can buy indoor and outdoor string lights. With a waterproof rating of IP65 or higher, the lights will withstand heavy rain without getting damaged.
The other thing I like about them is that you don’t end up relying on throwaway batteries or an electric mains connection. It’s a green way to light up your house and garden even for many hours during the night. You’ve produced the energy from the sun with no reliance on the grid.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage is that for most lights, you’ll be entirely relying on the sun to charge up the batteries. Unfortunately, there are many places where the winter months bring dark days where there is hardly enough sunlight to activate the solar panels.
That means that you could end up with barely any runtime for your lights for several days or weeks.
One way around that is to look for a model that also allows for USB charging.
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